J. Stapleton Roy, whose 45-year career with the Department of State included three ambassadorships -- as U.S. envoy in Singapore, the People's Republic of China and Indonesia -- will be the keynote speaker at a President's Associates dinner Oct. 20 at the University of Oklahoma.

The dinner will be preceded by a public conference on U.S.-China relations and a discussion for students.

"The relationship between the U.S. and China will be the most important one to the entire world in the 21st century," OU President David Boren said. "No one understands China and the possible outcomes of the relationship better than Ambassador Roy."

Roy served as the top U.S. envoy in Singapore from 1984 to 1986, the People's Republic of China from 1991 to 1995 and Indonesia from 1996 to 1999. In 1996, he was promoted to the rank of career ambassador, the highest rank in the Foreign Service. Roy's final post with the State Department was as assistant secretary for intelligence and research. Roy retired from the Foreign Service in 2001 and was awarded Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson Award for Distinguished Public Service that same year.

Upon his retirement from the Foreign Service, Roy joined the strategic consulting firm of Kissinger Associates Inc. as managing director and later vice chairman. This September, he became the first director of the newly established Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., while continuing as a senior adviser to Kissinger Associates.

Also on Oct. 20, OU's Institute for U.S.-China Issues will mark the 30th anniversary of the normalization of U.S.-China relations with a conference featuring Roy; Zhou Wenzhong, the People's Republic of China ambassador to the United States; Richard Bush of the Brookings Institution and former chairman and managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan; David Gries, who served with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 1978 to 1980; and Xinbo Wu, professor at Fudan University and a leading Chinese expert on U.S.-China relations.

The morning panel, titled "The Joint Communiqu? and the Taiwan Relations Act, 1979," begins 9 a.m. in the Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., and will feature two panels, "30 Years of U.S.-China Relations" and "Negotiating Normalization, 1978-79."

The afternoon discussion, "Lessons for the Future of U.S.-China Relations," begins 2 p.m. in Beaird Lounge of Oklahoma Memorial Union. For information on the conference, visit www.ou.edu/uschina/events.html. No reservations are required to attend the panel discussions.

Limited seating to the President's Associates dinner is available by reservation for OU students, faculty and staff, with overflow seating available for the public. For reservations and accommodations on the basis of disability, call 325-3784.